I thought I’d do a 180 degree turn this week and change the topic from teenagers last week, to newborns this week.  In many ways, this week’s column is a celebration of life that’s dedicated to a beautiful newborn baby by the name of Genevieve Scott born to my dear friend Rick and his husband Ky.  Born on January 9th at 4:00 pm via IVF and surrogacy, I asked Rick to share with me how the details of his journey to fatherhood: Sam:  I’ve said before that people say it takes a village to raise a child, but with gay […] read more

It is important to me that Straight Talk About Gay Parenting be as diverse as possible.  I hope my readers enjoy my point of view on things, but I do realize that it’s a very small slice of the gay parenting pie.  Unlike our heterosexual counterparts, the way in which we have children is as diverse as the community itself.  For that reason, I’m going to really focus on “passing the torch” in the coming weeks, and focus on different parents telling their story from a very different angle than my personal story.  For that reason, it’s incredibly important that […] read more

I wrote an article last September about the recent gay teen suicides that I have hesitated to publish for many reasons.  One of them is that its subject is far more about politics than it is about parenting tips.  The other reason is that it’s not exactly the most “cheery” of all subjects.  It’s downright disturbing.  It’s depressing.  This story doesn’t have a happy ending and there’s little that is positive about it.   It also comes from a fearful place in me… something that there seems to be a lot of in the world these days due to politics, the […] read more

One of the most rewarding things about writing the Raising Alek column is hearing from our readers.  We long to hear from the gay parenting community out there so log on right now and tell us your story!  Go to www.raisingalek.com and then click on “Community Blog”.  From there you can register and post your story, feedback or questions. Steve Price is the owner of Filter Coffee House in Hillcrest and North Park.  He is also a bartender at Rich’s night club.  You might wonder how somebody who owns two businesses and has another part time job would ever have […] read more

I don’t know about you, but this year has been perhaps one of the busiest Holiday seasons I’ve ever remembered.  There are many reasons why we all get bogged down during the holidays.  All of the “regular” reasons for me however, were wiped out when I got a last minute booking to take our touring cirque style show to the Middle East to headline at the famed “Casino du Liban” in Beirut, Lebanon.  So this year, Alek and I will have the pleasure of enjoying one of the most non-traditional Christmas’s we ever have.  I look forward to sharing this […] read more

So I have some exciting news!  The Raising Alek website is up (www.raisingalek.com)!  It’s growing with content daily, and now I’ve got all the latest article posted, so be sure to check in, and feel free to leave your comments, and possibly ideas for future articles. The modern family is changing in this country.  Gay or other, today’s family is not what it used to be.  Today’s American families come in all shapes and sizes. The cookie cutter mold of a man + wife + 2.5 kids is a thing of the past, as it becomes quickly apparent in the […] read more

For the last few weeks, the Raising Alek column has been focusing the different ways in which we as gay people become parents.  I have a friend with a pretty incredible story.  He is a living testimony to keeping the dream of becoming a parent alive, even when it seems more of a nightmare. My friend is Steven Alix.  He and his partner Jorge live in Denver with his daughter Lexi.  I had the pleasure of talking to him, asking him to share some of his story with our community: ST:  When was it that you first discovered that you […] read more

OK, I admit it… I’m biased. I think gay people should have children. I believe it should be as required for your “gay card” as much as having the DVD to Funny Girl. I think gay people make the most fantastic parents on the planet and deep down, I think many gay people want to have children. I just think it gets tripped up by the gazillions of mixed messages and questions that we have floating around in our brains from years of ignorance bestowed on us from outside forces. Some of these demons that I had to slay before […] read more

It could be the “Mozart Effect” or perhaps I was just blessed with a child that was pre-wired as an extremely calm and “easy” baby. I don’t know if it was nature or nurture, but I do know that music has played a huge role in my child’s development since birth. I had always read that singing to your child is calming to them, so figuring that birth has got to be an enormously stressful event, there I was… the single gay dad singing a medley of songs from Broadway’s Wicked to his new born son there in the delivery […] read more

Before I dive in to my first article, I want to thank all my FaceBook friends who contributed to the name of what I hope will become a very popular weekly feature column in the San Diego LGBT Weekly.  I needed all the help I could get.  I’m a show producer, not a writer.  One of the performers in my touring show “iL CiRCo” came up with the name:  “Mary Has A Little Man”.  I always thought Chris was cute, amazingly talented and has an Adonis of a body, but he’s a total smart ass.  I appreciate Chris’ wit and […] read more